IUCN Asia Review 2013-2014 is now available for download. In this issue we focus on the many partnerships we embarked on in the past two years, working together for people and nature in order to deliver positive change for the environment. …

The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Government of India has formally handed over to Aaranyak (IUCN Member) the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Purashkar (IGPP) 2012 at a function held at Ganga Auditorium of the Ministry on 2nd February 2015. …

IUCN Patron of Nature, Salley Ranney, accompanied by businessman, environmentalist and philanthropist Ted Turner, paid a recent visit to IUCN's office in Bejing, China. IUCN’s new President, Zhang Xinsheng, welcomed the IUCN Patron and joined Ms Ranney, Mr Turner, and a number of IUCN staff to discuss the role of IUCN and its Members in Chinese conservation. …

The Applied Environmental Research Foundation (AERF), an IUCN Member based in India, has been awarded membership of the Clinton Global Initiative in appreciation of AERF’s efforts to conserve and protect forests and biodiversity in the Western Ghats.
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Poaching and illegal trade of bears, driven largely by the demand for bile, used in traditional medicine and folk remedies continues unabated across Asia on a large scale, a new report by TRAFFIC, a joint programme of IUCN and WWF, has found. …

In Singapore, where space is tight, nature conservation faces some difficult odds. And no one is more familiar with the challenges than Dr Ho Hua Chew of IUCN Member organization the Singapore Nature Society who has fought for years for official recognition of the island state’s wildlife. …

“In 1984, when I was a Divisional Forest Officer, I was kidnapped in the thick forest of Dadu, in southern Pakistan. The armed gang kept me in captivity for two nights but it seemed like a thousand years. My confidence was shattered and my career took a turn for what I thought at the time was the worst. After this, I decided to work on coastal conservation. This change, which involved restoring mangroves, was actually a blessing in disguise. It gave me a platform to chart completely unexplored territory in Pakistan.” …

Office? The jungle. Colleagues? Elephants, rhinos and tigers. Naresh Subedi has many stories to tell. Stories that are not only fascinating and impressive but that can also make your hair stand on end. …

On behalf of all IUCN Members and staff, I join with people from around the world in extending sympathy and solidarity to the many families affected by the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. …

With a little over 18 months to go until the next IUCN World Conservation Congress kicks off in Jeju, IUCN and the Republic of Korea today launch the logo and theme of the Congress. … | French | Spanish

We share the planet with as many as 13 million different living species. This rich biodiversity provides us with health, wealth, food, fuel and the vital services we depend upon to live. We are part of nature and we have the power to protect or destroy it.

News Story: Islamabad The first meeting of the year 2011 of the IUCN Pakistan National Committee Members held on January 19, 2011 at Islamabad Hotel in Islamabad. Mr. Javed Jabbar, IUCN Vice President and the Regional Councillor chaired the meeting. …

“Continuing its tradition of encouraging creativity and building effective institutions to help address some of the world's most challenging problems, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced today that 11 organizations in six countries will receive the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. The Awards recognize exceptional Foundation grantees and help ensure their sustainability with grants of $350,000 to $1 million each, a large sum given that recipients' annual operating budgets are under $5 million.” …

Fast track climate funding for vulnerable mountain communities was announced today by the government of Germany. The programme, to be carried out by IUCN, UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), will assess vulnerability among communities and farmers to droughts and floods linked with rising regional temperatures and the loss of glaciers and ice. …

Governments in Cancun need to close a deal on REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) and reach an agreement to make it a central part of the new climate agreement. One country that is already working on making REDD a reality in the conference room and also in the field is Vietnam. …

Crucial talks to bring Asia’s most iconic animal, the tiger, back from the brink of extinction are taking place in St Petersburg, Russia, from 21 to 24 November. The International Tiger Forum, hosted by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, includes leaders from 13 countries which still have wild tigers, along with conservation organizations including IUCN. They are expected to adopt a high-level declaration and a global recovery plan to save this critically endangered animal. …

Representatives of two of the IUCN Pakistan Members Khwendo Kor and Strengthening Participatory Organisation have been selected to be part of a nine-member committee constituted on the instructions of the President of Pakistan for flood relief work. …

“The enormity of the disaster which affects millions of people should be a test even for well-established governance and disaster management systems,” writes Javed Jabbar, IUCN CEC Regional Vice-Chair for West Asia and the Middle East. …

Background: Key decisions which could help to reverse the current extinction crisis will be decided at the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice or SBSTTA, which takes place in Nairobi, Kenya from 10 to 21 May 2010. Decisions taken in Nairobi will provide a scientific basis for discussions that will take place in October in Nagoya, Japan, at the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. …

This month a meeting will take place in Nairobi in Kenya where scientists, including a delegation from IUCN, will meet with the world’s governments to advise them on the best way forward to save all life on earth, the planet’s biodiversity. The conference, known as the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice or SBSTTA, is a crucial part of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Decisions taken in Nairobi will provide a scientific basis for the convention, which will meet in Nagoya in Japan later this year.
Jane Smart is the Director of IUCN’s Biodiversity Conservation Group. She says that this year’s talks, to stem the loss of biodiversity, are critical.
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IUCN's Deputy Director General Bill Jackson speaks about his expectations for the meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nairobi in May 2010, and explains IUCN's role in the creation of a new Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). …

IUCN Members, National and Regional Committees are invited to send their comments on the draft agenda for the 74th Council to the IUCN Director General (jml@iucn.org), in English, French or Spanish, before 14 May 2010. … | French | Spanish

“The International Year of Biodiversity will be most effective if every single human being on this planet understands why biodiversity is important and has the tools to act upon saving the loss of biodiversity” says IUCN’s Director General Julia Marton-Lefèvre. … | French | Spanish

“Fazle Hasan Abed has built one of the world’s most commercially-minded and successful NGOs” says an article published recently in The Economist. An IUCN member organization in Bangladesh called Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) was acknowledged as “the largest, fastest-growing non-governmental organisation (NGO) in the world—and one of the most businesslike”. …

IUCN Members are invited to discover the work of the Biosphere Ethics Initiative and to get involved with their programme to incorporate principles of environmental ethics into specific conservation action. …

To mark the occasion of the International Year of Biodiversity 2010, a Movement to Save St. Martin’s Island, an ecologically critical area in Bangladesh, was organized by an IUCN member Coastal Area Resource Development and Management Association (CARDMA). …

The Biodiversity of Kumbhalgarh, Phulwari-ki-Nal and Sitamata Wildlife Sanctuaries, located in the Southern Aravalli Hills, Rajasthan, India, were assessed to make an inventory of the flora and fauna of the area and prepare appropriate conservation action plans by an IUCN member Foundation for Ecological Security (FES). …

IUCN, the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Korea, and the Self-governing Province of Jeju have signed an agreement to jointly organize the 2012 IUCN World Conservation Congress. … | French | Spanish

A team of IUCN colleagues participated in the 7th International Biofuels Conference organized by IUCN member, Winrock International India, which took place in New Delhi on the 11th and 12th February, 2010. …

In compliance with Resolution 4.011 (Development of an automated system to record Members’ actions on Resolutions and Recommendations to improve reporting at, and between, World Conservation Congresses), the IUCN Secretariat has developed an online tool to facilitate reporting by IUCN Members and the Secretariat on activities contributing to the implementation of Resolutions and Recommendations adopted at the 2008 World Conservation Congress in Barcelona.
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KARACHI Feb 01 (IUCN PR): Pakistan has been accepted as a full member country at the Regional Steering Committee meeting held in Thailand between January 25-28, 2010. The Pakistan delegation was led by the Secretary Ministry of Environment, Kamran Lashari, while other members of the delegation included Shah Murad Aliani, Country Representative IUCN Pakistan, and Mahmood Akhtar Cheema, Manager Islamabad office IUCN Pakistan. …

In Sri Lanka, three elephants are killed every week as a result of human-elephant conflict, leaving behind defenceless orphans. To address this, IUCN State Member The Department of Wildlife Conservation has launched a novel foster parent scheme, where contributions from donors are used to shelter helpless young elephants in a transit home until they have reached an appropriate age to be released into the wild. …

2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity, and people all over the world are working to safeguard our irreplaceable natural wealth and reduce biodiversity loss. This is vital for current and future human wellbeing. We need to do more. Now is the time to act. …

Under the aegis of the Mangroves for the Future Initiative, a Colloquium was held on 6 November, 2009 at the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research & Training Institute (HARTI), Wijerama Mawata, Colombo. …

Two leading environmental organizations Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and Worldwide fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF Pakistan) which are members of IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature have come together to address environmental and developmental issues in Pakistan. …